Discovery

BEGINNING CHEMISTRY, by Anne Wignall & Terry Wales; Longman, 1997; 380 pp; $44.95
BEGINNING CHEMISTRY TEACHERS GUIDE, by Anne Wignall & Terry Wales; Longman, 1997; 160 pp; $89.95
CORE PRACTICALS FOR YEAR 12 CHEMISTRY, by Anne Wignall & Terry Wales; Longman, 1997; 46 pp; $6.95

Reviewed by Dave Stevenson

These books provide an opportunity to gain a complete package for teaching Year 12 chemistry; an excellent textbook and practical manual for students with accompanying teachers guide. For the beginning teacher this would be an invaluable resource. Also available, by the same author, to complete the package is Chemistry 6 Write-on Notes.

Beginning Chemistry is broken into 19 chapters which cover all the requirements for Level 7 chemistry. The text is user friendly in that it contains lots of real-world applications of basic chemical principles along with profiles of New Zealanders using chemistry in their work. Each chapter contains Test Yourself questions throughout the text and two sets of additional questions at the end of the chapter. Answers to most of the questions are at the back, with answers to the B series questions in the Teachers guide -- a nice feature for the setting of assignments. In reviewing this textbook I've learnt a lot of interesting chemistry myself. Particularly enjoyable are the sections "Chemistry at Work", "Great moments in NZ Chemistry" and "Chemistry Hall of Fame". This is not your traditional dry textbook but a book full of interesting entertaining stories along with a lot of chemical knowledge.

Beginning Chemistry -- Teachers Guide contains a wealth of support material for the chemistry teacher. Included are suggested schemes for Year 12 chemistry, student objectives, revision tests and answers, model answers for the textbook questions and all experiments in the practical manual (along with additional practicals), safety notes and extra teaching resources and ideas.

The Core Practicals for Year 12 Chemistry provides 45 practicals that dovetail with the textbook and Teachers Guide. For little more than the cost of photocopying experimental sheets here is a complete set of practicals. These range from short "Have a go" to full-period "Investigations", all bound together and pre-punched.

Anne Wignall and Terry Wales are to be congratulated on producing a wonderful resource for both students and teachers of chemistry. Compared to traditional texts, theirs is approachable and easy to read while also being very good value for money.

Dave Stevenson is HOD Chemistry at Shirley Boys' High School in Christchurch